When it comes to raising kids (both human and goat), the key to success (and sleeping well) is preventing the bad things from happening, not trying to fix them once they have occurred.
With human children, teaching them is much easier when they’re four than when they’re fourteen. For example,
- It’s super difficult to teach children to work hard if you do everything for them and don’t give them chores from the time they learn to walk.
- It’s super difficult to teach children to be thankful for the little things if you spoil them and give them every little thing their heart desires.
- It’s super difficult to teach children to value education if you don’t teach them early that learning is fun and a life long process.
- It’s super difficult to teach children to listen to you and do what you say as teenagers if they don’t have to obey you as little children.
Prevention and starting early is key.
(Remember, if you failed to start early, it’s never too late. With God all things are possible.)
Raising goats to be healthy also starts with prevention. You need to start with healthy, CAE and CL free goats and make sure that their rumen is given a chance to develop. You have to prevent coccidia and a heavy worm burden. If you wait until you see symptoms, damage has already been done. You still need to treat them, but you’ve harmed their chances of reaching their full potential.
There is no one correct way of raising goats. Every breeder does things differently. I’ve put together a page on our method of raising goats at Goat Milk Stuff. You can see we spend a lot of time on prevention (with all our kids). It makes a huge difference!
